Cecil William Alderson was a British-born Anglican

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of (successively) Damaraland,

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape ...

, and

Mashonaland Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe. Currently, Mashonaland is divided into four provinces, * Mashonaland West * Mashonaland Central * Mashonaland East * Harare The Zimbabwean capital of Harare, a province unto itself, lies entirel ...

Early life

He was born on 11 March 1900, educated at Merchant Taylors' and

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...

, and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

in 1926 after a period of study at

Ely Theological College Ely Theological College was a college in Ely, Cambridgeshire, for training clergy in the Church of England. Founded in 1876 by James Woodford, Anglican Bishop of Ely, the college had a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. Ely's "ritualistic" (i. ...

Clerical career

He began his career with a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at St Matthew,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

. From 1925 to 1930 he was Vice-Principal of his old theological college then a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

in Likoma. In 1938 he became

Warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

St Paul's College, Grahamstown The College of the Transfiguration in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, is the only provincial residential college of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, offering a contextual approach to theology studies. The college opened in 1993, following the amal ...

, then in 1944

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of m ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

. He was bishop of Damaraland from 1949 to 1951 when he was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

. His last post was as bishop of Mashonaland where he played a key role in the foundation of the

Bernard Mizeki College , established = 1961 , type = Independent, boarding school , locale = Rural , grades = Form 1 - 6 (grades 8–12) , founder = Peter Holmes Canham , oversight = Bernard Mizeki Schools Trust , headmaster = A H Matthews , city = Marondera , ...

from around 1958 till the time of his death.

Honours

He was admitted as a Sub-Prelate to the

Order of St John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, he died on 12 February 1968.

Notes

References

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External links

St Matthew's Westminster
1900 births People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Alumni of Ely Theological College Archdeacons of Port Elizabeth 20th-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops Anglican bishops of Damaraland Anglican bishops of Bloemfontein Anglican bishops of Harare and Mashonaland 1968 deaths Sub-Prelates of the Venerable Order of Saint John {{UK-bishop-stub